My little girl named Thi Do.

It's not that I do not care about the Haitians. Or those affected by the Tsunami. Or those of them in Mauritius.

But those are usually just natural disasters and one off. Malaysians rush to pour aid to those countries when disaster strikes. After that, they forget. They forget that the people there still need continuous aid to get along. After a one off donation to say, the tsunami survivors, they go along with their lives and forget about those survivors.

So, as terrible as it may sound. I usually do not donate to these one off aid funds. Because 90% of the time, I do not KNOW whether the money gets to them.

I have a weird sense when it comes to charity.

I do not give to beggars who are not in any way maimed or disabled. Two arms? Check. Two legs? Check. 10 fingers and toes? Check. Got all your five senses? Check. You can get a job.
Beggars who lug around their children? I abhor those even more. If you cannot afford to take care of yourself, please do not bring a child into this world. And after you selfishly did, you bring her out to BEG? as a sympathy card? I don't even know what to say to that. But you sure as hell won't be getting any money from me.

When it comes to blind men/women who sell tissues? Oh, those are my favourite. They are disabled but instead of begging, they are selling something. I give them one RM and take only one packet. Most of them will say "cik, ambil dua paket!" (bless their honest souls!) but I always refuse. At least they are making a living whichever way they can. They are not asking for your money, they are earning your money.

I do not donate to MAKNA because I feel that many already do. Not that I do not feel strongly for cancer patients, but I feel that MAKNA is so publicised and well marketed, many people donate to them. I chose to give my money to the National Kidney Foundation. I like it because they not only help the patients with their dialysis bills, they also help them start up their own businesses. Making them self sufficient not to need to rely on charity anymore. I like that.

And just today I received a package from World Vision. I have decided to sponsor a child and the little girl of 5 whom I am sponsoring hails from Tua Chua Vietnam and her name is Giang Thi Do. For as little as MYR50, I can help make her life better and give her a brighter future. So I shall just give up those expensive eateries every once in a while, pocket that MYR50 and let be it put to good use. I can keep sponsoring her until she finishes school. And then it's up to me whether I choose to continue with another child or not.

I don't know about others, but doing charity without ensuring I can have my tax reduced or to be part of the "happening" group giving to the current charities, donning a ribbon, being out on magazines supporting the charity or just to be known to be charitable, but because I genuinely want to, is a really good feeling.

Scrap that.

It's fantastic.